Food Allergies

[ChemGal]

i wonder if anyone has done a study on the "placebo effect" (which seems a lot like doctorese for 'and then this happens' handwaving) and allergies?

What do you mean? There aren't many positive things when it comes to allergies. Are you referring to meds that treat allergies?

 

[Delightful Life]

What do you mean? There aren't many positive things when it comes to allergies. Are you referring to meds that treat allergies?

I guess it would be more accurate to say Nocebo, the 'opposite' of a placebo, where a placebo "is" "a substance or procedure… that is objectively without specific activity for the condition being treated..." (Moerman, Jonas. "deconstructing the placebo effect and finding the meaning response")?

I wonder, like, if there have been any studies taking a look at things like anxiety, taught behaviours, fear responses to allergens, learned behaviours, and such in respect to food allergies in any way?

 

[ChemGal]

I've only heard of it in terms of peanut/nut allergies and smell. I haven't actually looked at the studies though.

 

[ChemGal]

Old thread but saw this

'It seems unbelievable': Ont. mother warns of allergy therapy risks after daughter's death

An Ontario mother is raising awareness and pushing for a change in the guidelines for allergy desensitization after her nine-year-old daughter died during therapy.

www.ctvnews.ca

Yikes! Seems like a lot of negligence on the doctor's part.
I didn't realize oral immunotherapy for food was being done at home yet.I knew it was going great in-office, with some maintenance st home.
I have also seen some grrat videos in the past from these treatments where a child does experience anaphylaxis and the doctor gets the parent to treat it. Those reactions are far less than what most people even recognize as anaphylaxis.

I know I wait too long to use my epipen meaning I haven't actually used it. I'm aware though that I should technically be using it. I also know how my allergic reactions are slow to build, and I haven't had severe anaphylaxis before, most of these kids have. I don't know why a doctor would ever encourage this without careful epipen counseling, including use of a trainer.

 

[jimkenney12]

That is unfortunate. Here we avoid poppy seed which is dangerous for a sister in law, cow or sheep dairy including butter and anything else with cow dairy protein which causes intestinal issues for several family members, and mango which bothers our daughter.

 

[Mendalla]

We have been fortunate in my family that none of us inherited my late uncle's raft of food allergies (nuts, seafood are the ones I remember). I have one cousin with Celiac but otherwise we don't really have a lot of food caveats with my lot. But back in the day, Mom had to do two batches of her wonderful Christmas fruitcake, one without nuts for her brother. And make sure there were some other nut-free goodies around at Christmas, too. None of us really ate seafood other than fish back then so that never was much of a problem (nowadays would be a different story since my wife and I are heavy consumers of seafood).

 

[ChemGal]

That is unfortunate. Here we avoid poppy seed which is dangerous for a sister in law, cow or sheep dairy including butter and anything else with cow dairy protein which causes intestinal issues for several family members, and mango which bothers our daughter.

Dairy can be a tough one.

 

[ChemGal]

With my fish allergy my family has moved away from it for Christmas Eve. It's probably when I have had my first anaphylactic reaction but wasn't totally sure if it was an allergy or what, it wasn't the most common symptoms and was years before getting an epipen. Stopped eating it myself for years which used to be good enough, but not anymore.

Luckily things are better now with others being more accommodating. My aunt's fish allergies were more severe and she would have anaphylactic reactions reactions ecery Christmas Eve - not recognized by people there as anaphylaxis as she could still breathe despite a swollen mouth and throat. Looking back at that it's like wow how awful there was fish served every Christmas Eve that she came. If my family pulled that on me I would quickly be cutting out a fair bit of visiting. As it was I was a bit annoyed when my asthma fared up when my mom cooked fish in my oven and the sauce overflowed so enough became airborne to be a trigger. That was unintentional though and after that I made a rule of no cooking fish in the oven while I was around or in my home, oven - bbq only and no one took issue with that, now that's too much so it's not served at all if I'm present.

 

[BetteTheRed]

I wonder, like, if there have been any studies taking a look at things like anxiety, taught behaviours, fear responses to allergens, learned behaviours, and such in respect to food allergies in any way?

Given that most people with serious food allergies seem to be "born allergic", seems unlikely. I was born allergic to cow's milk (it's a specific allergy to the type of milk protein produced by cows; goat and sheep's milk are both fine). Both of my children had the same allergy, which was evident immediately that I weaned them. It seems to wane at puberty, although I still have a million environmental allergies. This time of year is very difficult, because so many places have evergreen trees/wreaths/boughs inside, to which I am desperately allergic. Spend a lot of time this time of year coughing and wheezing.

This kind of immunotherapy for food allergies makes sense, because we know that "allergy shots" work for environmental allergies, and it's the same principle of introducing a small amount of the allergen to build up tolerance to it. And it works. I was very allergic to cats and dogs as a child, yet, I've had them most of my life, and in my experience, when I get a new critter, I usually have to suffer a bit for a couple of months until I get desensitized to the "new" dander. But with the threat of anaphylaxis, you'd have to be super careful, and very experienced at when/how to use the epipen and/or rush to emerg.

 

[KayTheCurler]

One of my kids developed a fish allergy as an adult. He'd had no problem with it before. I react a lot more to some inhaled allergens now than earlier. One of my kids was a bedwetter and was suddenly cured when he stopped drinking milk on the advice of a nurse who said it was worth trying if he was interested in monitoring himself. He 'cheated' occasionally and couldn't ignore the connection!

 

[BetteTheRed]

I developed a violent reaction to mussels in my mid-20s. I used to eat them often, and was often quite greedy about them, so the first time I reacted violently I put it down to simple greed (I had eaten a large order myself, with lots of nice bread to soak up the lovely white wine parsley sauce, and had topped off the meal with a large sundae of sherbet topped with vodka; yeah, I told you it was greedy, LOL). The next time it happened was so extreme that I became quite frightened of them, and have no nerve left to eat any shellfish. I'm good with fish, cooked and raw, also crustaceans like shrimp and lobster. But wow, sneak one mussel in a seafood casserole, and I am in real trouble.

 

[Luce NDs]

Do not mussel in this domain ...

 

[ChemGal]

Given that most people with serious food allergies seem to be "born allergic", seems unlikely. I was born allergic to cow's milk (it's a specific allergy to the type of milk protein produced by cows; goat and sheep's milk are both fine). Both of my children had the same allergy, which was evident immediately that I weaned them. It seems to wane at puberty, although I still have a million environmental allergies. This time of year is very difficult, because so many places have evergreen trees/wreaths/boughs inside, to which I am desperately allergic. Spend a lot of time this time of year coughing and wheezing.

This kind of immunotherapy for food allergies makes sense, because we know that "allergy shots" work for environmental allergies, and it's the same principle of introducing a small amount of the allergen to build up tolerance to it. And it works. I was very allergic to cats and dogs as a child, yet, I've had them most of my life, and in my experience, when I get a new critter, I usually have to suffer a bit for a couple of months until I get desensitized to the "new" dander. But with the threat of anaphylaxis, you'd have to be super careful, and very experienced at when/how to use the epipen and/or rush to emerg.

There is oral immunotherapy for environmental allergies too but last I heard it was geass only. It's something I hope I can do in the future but I have so much going on with my immune system that's more uncertain.

 

[jimkenney12]

I had no allergies until my ealry twenties. That is when i developed an allergy to grasses. I am no sensitive to pollen, tobacco smoke, and dust; possibly to other plant allergens. I am also quite sensitive to poison ivy which I encoutnered for the first time last summer. I feel lucky to have so few allergies actually lucky to have few helath issues at all as long as I regularly do my exercises related to some physical injuries.